Well said Andy, the conditioning coach they got from Liverpool I think has proven to be an absolute jet.
Wonder how much of his knowledge of Soccer counter attacking tactics were used in orchestrating the counter sling shot overlap style that Port play which counters the forward press. Very clever when mixed with elite speed and endurance which Port now have.
Hinkley is the best coach in the AFL. Even from 2 years. Better than Lyon, Brad Scott and Longmire who all inherited great lists. Lyon inherited 2 great lists and won nothing from it. Scott and Longmire inherited premiership lists with an elite culture.
Clarkson could mount a big case against Hinkley but the fact that Hinkley has gone from AFL basketcase to Prelim finalists in 2 years with the most exciting brand of footy in the comp is incredible.
not having a shot here but just tryinng to add some balance.
of their team that defeated freo the following players were at port before hinkley got there.
fb/ broadbent - carlisle - jonas
hb/ oittard - trengove - oshea
c/ hartlett - boak - ####
hf/ gray - westhoff - ####
ff/ #### - schulz - wingard.
r/ lobbe - ebert- ####
int/ moore -
plus theres another 10 who didnt play and are still on their list. id say hinkley had the makings of a pretty good teamwhen he walked into port. hes hardly had to strip the list back to nothing.
i would even argue that the work had already been done on the nd selections they took in 2012 and hinkley had little to do in this area.
what port have done well in hinkleys time is find 7good players and they still have kids from the last two draft who look promising who are yet to play or played very little.
imo we are more like port when hinkley first got there, and as such, if we as a club could nail 3 or 4 nd draft picks and make 3 or 4 good trades like port have over the last 2 seasons we can significantly improve and become more than competetive hopefully.
we need to remember though there are clubs who have finished below us who have already done a significant amount of rebuild work. there are no guarantees.